Customer Reviews

Neu 2

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I remember my older sister having this LP, when I left home I stole it and never told her! I can't believe it's taken over 20 years for it to be re-issued! For me, "Fur Immer" is the definitive Neu! track, the definitive motorik track if you prefer. Unlike "Hallogallo", which it superficially resembles, it has that distinctive clean rhythm guitar sound which is as recognisably "Neu!" as the relentless get-out-of-my-way drumming style (just ask Stereolab). Again, this track seems more dynamic and better thought out than "Hallogalloo", the crescendos and de-crescendos work better and the overall sound is lusher - tho "Hallogallo" has a punchier feel. Of the other tracks on this release, "Neuschnee" has a lovely Rother melody set to a punishing Dinger beat - another perfect Neu! track! "Super" and "Lila Engel" simply invent punk rock - monstrous beats, insane guitar and Dinger's extraordinary strangulated retch of a voice. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is taken up with mere space-filling noodling: the record player distortions of "Super" and "Neuschnee" could be some sort of dadaist anti-art precursor to the modern-day turntablism or else they could just be a cheap and quick way to fill up space (I tend towards the latter argument). Nonetheless I have always found 'Cassetto', the warbly warped-tape version of 'Hallogallo', a perfectly acceptable way to fill space when making up a Neu! compilation tape for friends - of course, now the Neu! albums are all available on CD my compilation tape days may just be behind me....

Not as tuneful as NEU! 75 or as revered as NEU! #1, it is the most interesting in terms of remixing. By simply slowing down and speeding up different tracks they create totally different feelings and totally different songs. Super 16 and Super are polar opposites, 16 is slow and druggy and sounds like the monster under your bed, plain super is intense and punkish. The modern concept of the remix starts here (plus the rest of the songs are beyond excellent, as it goes without saying for NEU!). While the other two are most listenable, this is the NEU! you CANNOT live without a minute longer.

First of all, let me say that once in a great while amazon gets the track listing slightly off. I bought the album tonight and it is sitting here in front of me as I write this. The album, I assume, is supposed to look as closely to the original vinyl as possible. It even has the songs split into two sections which are noted as Sides 1 and 2. The correct track listing should be:

1. Für Immer
2. Spitzenwualitat
3. Gedenkminute
4. Lila Engel
5. Neuschnee 78
6. Super 16
7. Neuschnee
8. Cassetteo
9. Super 78
10. Hallo Excentrico !
11. Super

On the back of the CD, what would have been side two of the original record release, is above what would have been side one. So if you do not happen to notice that they are labeled as side one and side two then you may be confused. However a CD as we all know only has one side.

Anyway, the album is brilliant. I'll bet Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother said some variation of "we're gonna do it anyway" a time or two in their careers as NEU! Just look at the record, the track listing is shoved all the way into the top left corner and takes a minute to figure out. Beyond that, once you listen to the album you'll notice something. For those familiar with turntable speeds, you'll know that Super 16 does not refer to the variation of 16mm motion picture film used to give a higher quality look when transfered to 35mm. If you know anything about the history of the turntable, records, and vinyl (in relation to sound recording) you'll know about the 16RPM records were used for voice recording and by Chrysler for the car stereo turntables that they jokingly used. They printed special versions of various albums in 16RPM. Yes, to answer your question, every bump your car hit caused the needle to scratch and most likely ruin you're album. The turntable was only good when the player was used while your car was at a complete stop. Anyway, they took the same song (on vinyl) that was recorded at 33 1/3 speed and ran it at 16 and 78 RPMs. They even included the 33 1/3RPM version. They even have another track (Neuschnee) at 33 1/3 were they run it at 78 and include both versions. I'm sure someone along the way said something to Dinger and Rother and they replied with some variation of "we're gonna do it anyway." Different versions of the same song? Hard to read track listing? They deserve some credit for doing what they want to do. It obviously looks like somewhere along the way they didn't take someone's advice and it was for the better!

The music holds up even under the technical aspects. Weak music is made even more weak with technical special effects. However, great music can be made even better with the same effects.

I'm only sad that each generation is farther removed from vinyl than the last. One day someone will see this album and say "what does 16 and 78 mean?"

Nice follow up to the band's first lp,originally released in 1972,having eleven tracks.I was impressed with the fluid dynamics of "Fur Immer"(meaning 'Forever') and with the somewhat trend setting industrial "Spitzenqualitat".I notice that this reissue tends to change moods more often than the first one did.Apparently,Rother and Dinger stuck a bunch of fillers on 'Neu! 2'(I heard they ran out of funds during the middle of the lp's recording session)that were previously released with the speeds altered,which are "Neuschnee 78","Super 16" and the 78 rpm-sounding "Super 78".Clever.Don't worry about your CD player,it's fine.Several stops,skips,etc here and there."Hallo Excentrico" and "Super" are probably the best remixes.Certain fans of experimental just MAY find themselves drooling over this title.

After the relatively large success of their first album in Germany, Neu! members Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger returned to the studio with engineer Conny Plank to recorded their second album. "Neu! 2" starts out as a continuation of the first album. The 11-minute opening track "Fur Immer" is a beefier heavier take on "Hallogallo" from the first album. Klaus Dinger's drumbeat stays locked in place while Michael Rother's guitar swims and swerves around a stationary E-major chord. This is a fine piece of minimalist-rock. The following piece, "Spitzenqualitat", focuses on "Fur Immer's" driving drumbeat which gradually slows down until it stops. While this is going on, various echo and electronic effects weave through the drum rhythm. This leads directly into "Gedenkminute" which is a full minute of wind sounds and a church bell tolling. "Lila Engel" closes the first half of the album with Klaus Dinger's driving drums and moaning vocals.
The second half of the album is where everything shifts drastically. Legend has it that while Neu! was in the middle of recording this album, they discovered that their recording budget had run out and had to finish everything in a huge rush. For this part of the album, Rother and Dinger used an early single as the basis for manipulating and stretching the music into one side of an LP. So what we have here is two tracks, "Neuschnee" and "Super" included in their original versions as well as the tracks being played back at 16 and 78 RPM. Also included is two-minutes worth a cassette being eaten in a tapedeck ("Cassetto") and roughly four-minutes worth of "Neuschnee" being played at various speeds while Dinger, Rother and engineer Conny Plank have a conversation in the recording studio ("Hallo Excentrico"). The second half of "Neu! 2" is basically an early example of what was to become known as the remix. It's interesting hearing how these two simple tracks could be turned into an adventerous sound collage.
Like the first album, "Neu! 2" would go on to be influential to many artists in many different genres from punk to art-rock to techno. This album continues to be a timeless classic and is a highly recommended piece of German Krautrock at its very best.

If so, it probably starts here. What do you do when you've finished recording half of your second album (despite you and your partner trying to pull it in opposite directions while dealing with screwy studio equipment), then run out of money and have your label refuse to advance you any more? Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother chalked one up for spite and finished Neu! 2 anyway, presumably through sheer force of will. Tracks were doubled, stretched, compressed, sped up, slowed down, remixed and voila - enough new material to finish the record. It probably wasn't intended to be avant-garde or a new experient in strange recording techniques, let alone to spawn a whole genre niche on its own, but it's amazing how things can take on a life of their own.

If Neu! self-titled was an exploration of simplicity in repetitive grooves, this album is the sound of that idea being gnawed at by gerbils, composted, half-torn apart, spit out in a mess of tangled tapes and reassembled by a frazzled sound engineer in a hurry on his day off. And I realize that makes it sound like a hopeless mess, but it's not, really. The off-the-wall wackiness is what makes the finished work so fresh and intriguing. "Super" closes the album out nicely with a trademark smooth-chillin Neu!groove, but before we get there we hear part of it once at half speed and once at a zippy hyper pace that leaves your head spinning. "Neuschnee" is put through a similar treatment to get "Neuschnee 78," and I can't even tell what the source for "Cassetto" was, since that track consists of a tape being chewed up in the player. Fun stuff.

Elsewhere some moments are sheer motorik satori, creating more of the same blissful clockwork-cruising grooves the first record did. The dreamy "Für Immer" alone is probably worth the price, traveling from beautiful highway cruise to trippy outer-space groove and back again without missing a beat. "Neuschnee" and "Lila Engel" (even though it's got some questionable vocals on the side) are similar patches of ear-pleasing Krautrock, which are usually enough to keep the flow of the whole thing listenable amid the freaky parts.

Neu! 2 may be my least favorite of the three and the most rarely listened to (as it probably will be to anyone who usually prefers the sound of a finished product to the sound of a half-baked one put through a broken paper shredder), but it's got its own musical value all the same. And of course "Für Immer" is sheer aural perfection any way you look at it. Go for Neu! '75 for the most listenable taste, then come here to make your day a little more surreal.

Quite the fun one. Im going to try to be as succinct as I can and not draw out the review or anything here, but Fur Immer got me listening. Although minimalistic on the skin, the deeper you get, the more you start hearing. Whether this is due to subtle instrumentation or just sounds playing with your ears, it is quite entertaining. Some critique the "speed up slow down" tunes, but nonetheless its interesting to note the differences between the tracks. Its almost as if you are looking at the same picture from different angles, except you are looking at it with your ears. The distortions bring out peculiar visions thats for sure. And Super, is just, well. . .Super.

There's no denying the quality of Neu's music, but the CD reissues are packaged lovelessly and carelessly. Avoid purchasing unless you like the idea of liner notes in a cumbersome, 8+ panel fold-out poster thing that gets wrecked after a few times reading them.

If the Astralwerks label that released this 1973 gem were clever they'd re-release it with a bright yellow sticker on the cover that says: "FEATURING: 'SUPER 16', AS HEARD IN THE NEW QUENTIN TARATINO MOVIE KILL BILL VOL.1!!!" Then watch the sales of NEU! 2 surge its way up to the top of the Billboard album charts, purchased by young hipsters salivating for any and all obscure references incorporated into the cult movie flick.

Okay, that may never happen, but still, it was quite a treat to hear the brief snippet of "Super 16"'s turntable sludge ooze from the speakers of Tarantino's movie. "Super 16" might serve a few seconds of quirky soundtrack music, but as representation of the superb, and breif, discography of NEU!'s body of work it does the band a great disservice. Hearing this track rekindled my interest in NEU!'s music again, and to write this review.

NEU! 2 is perhaps best approached as two halves, the first half, which consits of the first 4 tracks: "Fur Immer", "Spitzenwualitat", "Gedenkminute", and "Lila Engel" (as of this writing Amazon's tracklisting is incorrect) . This is the heart of the album, with the driving "Fur Immer" connecting the dots between Kraftwerk's motor beats with alternative rock riffing. "Lila Engel" pounds agressively like there's no tomorrow, years before it became fashionable in punk music. Did I mention this music was originally released in '73? Awesome!

The second half consits of the remaining 7 tracks which, reportedly due to budget restraints, were recorded with minimal material. The band's solution was to drag or speed up pieces of their own music in various configurations using a turntable (complete with needle drops and vinyl scraping). The woozy "Cassetto" feeds music through a dying cassette player until its last, wretched gasp. This section of NEU! 2 is remixing in its most primitive form. Although it's an amusing idea to recycle pre-existing material in this fashion, the approach wears itself thin quite early, and hardly justifies any repeat listens.

I would say that NEU! 2 is second best behind the band's self-titled debut (Rating: 5 stars), and tied with their 3rd and final(?) effort Neu! 75, where NEU! were beginning to sound too self-conscious, IMHO. NEU!'s music has become better with age and surpasses any music out here that is being labeled "alternative" these days. It's good enough for Tarantino, and it's good enough for you! BUY IT!

Favorite tracks: "Fur Immer", "Lila Engel", "Super"
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

As a big fan of 70's Krautrock, I've been intrigued by the buzz surrounding Neu! in hipster circles these days. They seem to enjoy a higher standing than excellent bands like Can, Popol Vuh and Kraftwerk, and my excitement increased when the cashier at the hip, indie-type record store practically gushed over my brilliant selection. So I rushed home to listen to it and.....was completely underwhelmed to say the least.

This band has quite the cult following, who I'm sure will be hitting that "unhelpful" button, but I'm sorry. I gotta call 'em the way I hear 'em. The entire second half of this record consists of the band taking two (rather mediocre) songs and then playing them at the wrong speeds like little kids playing with their parents' stereo. That's right, they actually recorded the songs being played at 16 rpm or 78 rpm or whatever, and expected people to both pay for and be entertained by it. To me it's "experimentalism" at it's most pretentious and annoying (not to mention lazy-how about just writing some songs or something?)

The opening "Fur Immer" is actually a very nice encapsulation of the Krautrock sound, as Neu! lays down some interesting synth and guitar textures over a driving beat. Unfortunately, the bass player's decision to play exactly one note throughout wears thin about halfway through the eleven minute running time. "Lila Engel" is instructive as an influence on the post-rock movement. Play this for any Mogwai fan and they'll instantly recognize the musical language.

Maybe I just picked the wrong introduction to the band. Maybe Neu! and Neu 75 are better, but after blowing sixteen bucks on this one I'm not sure I'm in a hurry to find out.